A SR2 billion project is planned to put up cameras across Saudi Arabia
to monitor and to nab traffic violators, according to Maj. Gen. Fahd Al
Bishr, Director-General of the Traffic Department.
Al Bishr said that the new traffic monitoring system will come into
effect early next year. He added that a six-month-long awareness
campaign would be carried out before introducing the system, which aims
at cutting down road accidents that destroy five per cent of the
country's gross domestic product annually.
Al Bishr said cameras would be installed to record licence plate
numbers of violating vehicles, which would then be passed on to the
data centre. He explained that drivers would be informed of violations
and would have the right to object.
Payment of traffic tickets are essential to complete procedures at the
Passport Department like issuance and renewal of passport, iqama
(resident permit), civil status card, vehicle permit and driving
licence, issuance of visas for non-Saudis and recruitment of foreign
manpower.
"The new project will help identify and locate cars wanted by police,
including stolen cars and cars driven by suspected criminals," Al Bishr
said.
Campaigns help reduce accidents
A JEDDAH traffic department study showed that the recent traffic
campaigns had contributed to the number of injured and the dead in car
accidents in Jeddah going down.
The report said that the number of people injured in car accidents went
down from 374 to 344 and the number of deaths went down from 64 to 52.
It added that the number of fatalities and injuries due to traffic
accidents in Jeddah went down nine per cent in the month of Dhul Hijjah
(December-January), compared to the same period a year ago.
According to the report, there were only 5,044 accidents in the city
last Dhul Hijjah, compared to 5,332 accidents in Dhul Hijjah 1426H
(2005G). There were 9,882 cars involved in car crashes in 1426H (2005G)
compared with 9,609 in 1427H (2006G).
Mohammed Al Qahtani, head of the traffic department in Jeddah, said
that the traffic campaigns had contributed tremendously in decreasing
the number of accidents and more importantly the number of lives lost.
He called on residents to be responsible and not put their safety and
the safety of others at risk by driving recklessly.
Earlier, a study conducted under the supervision of King Fahd Hospital
(KFH) had showed that the ages of the majority of those involved in
accidents ranged between 15 and 44. It said that the traffic accidents
in Jeddah alone cost about SR100.3 million.
Dr Sami Badaud, director of KFH said the traffic accidents in the kingdom cost more than SR 7 billions annually.
King Fahd Hospital received 65 per cent of the victims involved in
accidents in Jeddah. However, their treatment costs the hospital about
SR21.7 million each year with an average patient's stay in the hospital
of one month.
Badaud added that the hospital's emergency room receives at least eight
cases of people involved in fatal traffic accidents each day, which
adversely affects the quality and flow of the services. It also changes
the operations schedule. The number of the accidents jumps dramatically
on weekends and holidays to more than 12 fatalities.
Setting an example in road safety
SAUDI Arabia has been presented as an example of the drive to curb road accidents and deaths in vehicular accidents.
Malaysia has been urged to follow Saudi Arabia in meting out punishment
against traffic offenders to bring down the accident rate and road
fatalities.
"There, the driving licence and the vehicle of the offender will be
confiscated. It is such a good deterrent and as a result, there are
very little accidents in that country," Kelantan Menteri Besar Datuk
Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat was reported as saying.
Malaysia holds Ops Sikap road safety operations annually during festive
seasons to reduce accidents and road fatalities, but these have borne
little results. During this year's Ops Sikap XIII, 20 deaths were
recorded on the very first day.
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